Also, an Epidemic of Stupid

An outbreak of H.I.V. in a rural Indiana county prompted the state’s governor on Thursday to declare a public health emergency as officials worked to stop the spread of the virus that causes AIDS.

The 80 cases in Scott County, in the state’s southeast, were attributed to intravenous drug use. … Governor Pence, a Republican, said that he had long opposed needle exchanges, but that after meeting with federal advisers, he decided to allow a short-term program in Scott County.

So, Pence was opposed to needle exchanges because, whatever. But now that he’s been convinced that needle exchanges can help stem transmission of H.I.V., he’s allowing just a temporary program in one county, because, why? Needle exchanges are okay to help contain an epidemic, but not to prevent one?

Yet another example of conservative values getting in the way of good public policy.

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I have no problem with conservatives living according to their values. It’s inflicting their values on the rest of us that I object to. And then there’s the little matter of how many of them get caught doing precisely what they admonished we must never do.

The recent move by the (idiot) Gov of Indiana to give one county in the state a temporary (30 day) needle exchange program highlights the crazy patchwork of syringe access in the US. For those that don’t eat, sleep, and breathe harm reduction, Scott Burris and colleagues at Temple University created an atlas highlighting this.

Indiana businesses are already complaining about their state’s new gay discrimination law. It seems bigotry isn’t good for business. Among other things, Indiana hosts numerous conventions, and that business is now very much at risk.

I just did a quick Google search and discovered that Scott county, IN is 97.8% white (96.4% if you don’t include Hispanic/Latino). I wonder, as a thought experiment, if the HIV outbreak was occurring in a largely non-white area… hmm, I wonder what the response would be… I don’t think you’d be hearing the (republican) governor say something like this:

“I’m going to put the lives of the people of Indiana first,” Mr. Pence said. He later added: “It’s a commitment to law and order, but it’s a commitment to compassion.”

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